Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., speaks to reporters on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, October 21, 2015, following meetings with House Republican leaders and the Freedom Caucus members.
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Retiring U.S. House Speaker John Boehner said today that he supports Rep. Paul Ryan’s potential bid to become the chamber’s next top leader. After huddling with the Freedom Caucus for more than an hour Wednesday, the band of roughly 40 hard-line conservatives said a “super-majority” of its members would support Ryan.
“After hearing Paul lay out his vision for the future of the Republican conference, I am confident that he is the right person to lead the House going forward”, Rep. Bill Flores, chairman of the RSC, said in a statement Thursday. I don’t want to say “played” folks, but I’m telling you the script is written backstage.
Republican bickering over the direction of the party, which many consider the catalyst for Boehner’s surprise retirement, has intensified as Congress faces a stark deadline to raise the federal government’s debt ceiling.
By the time the meeting wrapped up Wednesday night, only a “small handful” of members had reservations, said Rep. Mick Mulvaney (R-S.C.), signaling that Ryan had secured the 218 House votes necessary to prevail in the floor vote. “We’ll look forward to welcoming him (Ryan) if that all works out in the next few days”. Yet on their way to becoming Ryan’s kingmaker, the group’s anti-establishment conservatives have faced a decision that could make or break their own clout as well. He said he tries to bring them with him to official events so he gets to spend more time with them.
The Tuesday Group issued a warm endorsement of Ryan, as did the largest group of House conservatives, the Republican Study Committee.
Ryan, 45, spoke to the House GOP behind closed doors and said if all factions can share his vision and he can get the endorsement of the major caucuses, then he “be all in”.
“I’m still uncomfortable, still not for sure how Paul Ryan would run the institution differently from the current speaker”, Huelskamp said on C-SPAN. In order to have the House Freedom Caucus’ formal backing, 80% of its members would have to endorse Ryan and that did not happen. The support from the Freedom Caucus was far from assured, given its rebellious members were responsible for forcing Boehner to the exits and cowing McCarthy, his most likely successor.
Those demands include not only the endorsements and the rule changes, but also giving Ryan time with his young family. If they don’t, Ryan has said he’s happy to remain Ways and Means chairman. The group has now endorsed Rep. Daniel Webster for speaker; the Florida lawmaker is staying in the race, and it would take four-fifths of the roughly three dozen Freedom Caucus members changing their support to Ryan to flip that endorsement.
“And I am ready and eager to be our speaker”, Ryan wrote on Thursday evening in a letter to fellow Republican lawmakers that was released by his office.
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Criticism of the GOP isn’t coming only from liberals who delight in the dysfunction they see from Republicans, but also from other conservatives.
